How the CMO and the CTO can Partner to Create Innovative Organizations

I came across a story in Forbes Magazine recently that discussed what they term “the great divide” between chief marketing officers (CMOs) and chief technology officers (CTOs) in large enterprises. Written by the head of technology for the interactive ad agency, R/GA, the article presents some interesting thoughts on what can be done to bridge the divide. It’s impossible to be a self-proclaimed Marketnologist and not have an opinion about this.

To my mind, CMOs and CTOs have are challenged to understand each other because their goals are often so disparate – not that they should be, but they are. The CMO walks into each new organization understanding from the outset that their longevity in the role is dictated by increased brand perception and, more importantly, increased revenue. A CMO often has to react quickly to competitive pressures and public relations problems and they expect their teams to be able to keep up with their demands. Technology is different.

The CTO faces different criteria for success. Very few top-level executives truly understand technology and don’t know how to tie the CTO’s job performance to corporate revenue. Instead, what’s important to the head of an organization is that the technology works – the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system doesn’t crash, a virus doesn’t steal data from company computers, etc. The CTO’s job often is just to keep the ship running with as little disruption as possible. Additionally, the CTO’s primary “customer,” if you will, is within the organization itself – the company’s employees. For those customers, it is sufficient if it takes 8-12 months to roll out updates to a popular application or if it takes eighteen months to implement a new system. It just so happens that 18-24 months is the average tenure for a CMO. In the eighteen months it takes to get a new system implemented, the CMO may come and go.

CMOs and CTOs live in different worlds. Bridging the gap between them won’t occur over night but it’s likely to be aided by steps in the right direction that involve sharing responsibility. These steps include:

1. Information Sharing – Even if marketing has to beg and plead for a resource, there should be, at the very least, a dedicated person from the technology team responsible for attending meetings for projects that will depend on the CTOs domain. Calling the tech team in at the last minute, or even midstream, creates challenges for both groups.




2. Freeing Up the Reins – The tech team has to acknowledge that marketing moves faster. Once this is done, it becomes a lot easier to provide marketing with a sandbox in which they can test emerging technologies and prototype and new marketing programs and systems. Deployment would be dependent upon the CTOs office but Information Sharing, above, would ensure the tech team was aware of what’s coming.




3. Dedicated Marketing Technology Department – Some companies call it e-Business or eCommerce. Others call it Marketing Technology. Whatever the name, it is a team dedicated to creating customer facing systems and programs for the marketing team and its partners. Reporting to a top level executive and partnered with the CMO and the CTO, the Marketing Technology team combines marketing and technology personnel in one group whose vision is singularly focused on the same objectives.




4. Top Level Involvement – In many organizations, the changes above will not receive more than lip service without the attention of the CEO, President or other high-ranking executive. Her involvement can make the difference between success and failure of such endeavors. By mandating that CMOs and CTOs meet frequently to discuss strategy and tactics, the chief executive ensures open lines of communication. These open lines will hopefully lead to partnership and trickle down to subordinates tasked to handle day-to-day activities within the groups.

I am not one who advocates merging the CMO and CTO roles. Each position requires an expert who has the skills necessary to understand the full scope of the role. However, given marketing’s ever-increasing dependence upon technology, it is important that each role be familiar with some of the details of the other. By following the steps above, organizations can begin creating CMO/CTO partnerships that lead to innovation and, ideally, success for both teams.